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So I came across the term Zen Doodling and found an amazing site http://tanglepatterns.com/ which is all about the art of Zentangles

The idea appeals to me on two levels. One because it is fun and liberating and two because it is considered meditative.

It is so easy to lose yourself in the moment when you doddle. That is the essence of meditation finding the still place within, turning off the endless chatter in your mind and being completely and wholly in the moment.

For me I looked at the tangle patterns but only very loosely did I even contemplate adding them to my doodle instead preferring to freeform.

The way you do this is to start with a blank piece of paper and a thin black marker, or felt tip pen. You divide up your page loosely creating areas to doodle in.

My advice is when you do this start small and get bigger. I did a page that is a little bigger than A4 and I had to walk away and come back to it because about halfway through I ran out of steam and things I wanted to try

So here is the original Uncoloured Version

And here is the one I added colour to

Inspired by a parcel I received yesterday with two mini walnut ink misters and 3 smooch spritz ones. I had a brain wave what if I misted the background of a page then doodled over it (also thinking it would be great to do with the paint splatter technique as you would then be able to turn some of the splatters into things in your doodle). So out came my new art journal and low and behold that became my very first page. Have to say I had fun playing with this. Mostly because I am trying new things, this was done without lifting the felt tip pen from the page. What I love though is how the shimmer and sparkle merges so well with the doodling.

Inspired by a recent purchase of Doodling with Jim Henson (yet to arrive) and the arrival of a pack of sharpies and some fine black markers I am embarking to learn to doodle again. I remember whiling away the hours of boring classes doodling over the cover of my school diary.

So with that in mind I decided to spend a few hours tonight doodling. There are a couple of tricks to this.

Number one SWITCH OFF YOUR BRAIN!

Number two TRY AND NOT LIFT THE FINE MARKER OFF THE PAGE

And

Number three TRY AND CREATE SOME CLOSED ZONES

The first part may seem silly but in order to just have fun with doodling much like many creative endeavours you need to actually be purely in the moment.

The idea of this is just a bit of fun, it doesn’t have to be high art and the results will actually surprise you.

You start in the middle of your paper and work outwards, creating shapes from jagged edges to curls and swirls whatever takes your fancy. I tend to doodle around sort of circular to begin with till I start running out of room then expand out into the corners more. You can create big spaces and smaller spaces it all adds to the look. Not looking for perfection just free form randomness.

When you are done the true fun part begins take a pack of markers and start to colour. The reason I say create some ‘closed zones’ is that it makes colouring a lot easier than if you have the whole thing open I certainly could have used some more closed zones when I did this.

And here are the results of my Doodling for tonight. It took a while to colour but it is an awesome way to switch of your mind and relax.